The Lesson Plan
by Newbie GK
Summary: Desperate times call for desperate measure. Featuring the diabolical but well meaning plotting of the Seigaku Tennis Team, this story tells how the plot to get Ryoma and Sakuno together began. Companion piece to Teaching Style and Learning Curve.
1. Desperation

**Author's Note: **This story is a companion piece to my other two stories _Teaching Style _and _Learning _Curve. This story can be read alone but I would reccomend reading those two stories first for contextual information. That being said, I know it had been a long time since I posted the other parts to this series. To be honest, I hit a major writer's block when it came to this story. Fortunately, a friend of mine came up with the suggestion of using prompts to jumpstart my creative juices. And it worked. These prompts were taken from the Fanfic 25 community on Livejournal.

**Shout-outs:** This is for the people who kept on asking for this story to be written even after a year. Thanks to your encouragement and consistent prodding, I finally got it done.

**Warning:** In my eagerness to get this posted, I didn't request a beta. Consequently, this remains largely unedited. Like always though, feel free to point out any errors so I can correct them.

**Summary**: In desperate times, one must resort to desperate measures. Featuring the diabolical but well meaning plotting of the Seigaku Tennis Team. Companion piece to Teaching Style and Learning Curve.

**Prompt**: #4 Need

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Prince of Tennis. If I did, there would be more matchmakers trying to get Ryoma and Sakuno together.

* * *

Desperate Times,  
Desperate Men,  
and Desperate Measures

* * *

The atmosphere in locker room felt tense, a feeling of quiet weariness hovered in the air as the tennis team grudgingly changed out of their athletic clothes and into their regular ones. Each person moved slowly, the stiffness in the muscles reducing their movements to the bare minimum. The practice had been long and difficult with Tezuka barking out orders left and right seemingly indifferent to the hot sun that had been beating down on their backs. They were all exhausted, dehydrated, and more importantly, pissed off. Everyone except for one player.

"See you tomorrow," a smug Ryoma called walking out the door, his bag casually slug over one shoulder. Seven pairs of glaring eyes watched him exit. Tezuka nodded briskly to the remaining players and soon followed the youngest member of the team out the door.

The silence lasted for a few seconds before Momoshiro roughly threw his bag inside his locker. "This sucks!" he shouted.

"What are you going on about?" Kaidoh asked tightening the laces on his sneakers. Normally, he would head out for a run after practice but at the moment, his legs felt as strong as limp ramen noodles.

"That brat," Momo growled, gesturing to the door, "he acts so damn smug nowadays."

"Well," Oishi said dropping his dirty towel into the basket, "his abilities have increased considerably in the past three years."

"He's turned into a freakishly fast tennis machine," Eiji said jumping onto the bench and on top of some of Kaidoh's clothes, "It's unnatural." Kaidoh glared at the sight of Eiji's sneakers on his clean clothes. When Eiji failed to move, Kaidoh struck out an arm and shoved him off.

"So what?" he hissed.

"So what?" Eiji shouted, arms gesturing wildly in excitement, "So what? He's _killing_ us out there!"

"Eiji…" Oishi quietly warned.

The acrobatic tennis player rounded on his partner. "It's true Oishi. That little brat has been wiping the floor with us in practice. And- and it's not fair," he finished with a dramatic pout.

Takashi looked between the upset players. His hand automatically rubbed the back of his head as he tried to figure out a way to calm them down. "It's not _all_ that bad…"

"As a matter of fact, it is," Inui said flipping to a page in his notebook. "Ryoma's abilities in matches have increased by thirty percent and he now only takes a fraction of the time to claim the victory.

"That doesn't sound bad." Takashi commented genially.

"However," Inui continued, pushing up his glasses in mild irritation, "practice injuries have increased by over eighty percent since he rejoined the team in high school less than a couple of weeks ago."

Momo let out a low whistle at the number while Kaidoh hissed. The rest of the team looked at one another in stunned silence.

"So what can we do?" Oishi finally asked, "I mean, we may not like it that Ryoma-kun is winning so much but isn't it for the good of the team that he has become so skilled?"

"Not when the brat keeps injuring us like he is," Momo commented gesturing to Takeshi who had sprained his ankle the week before in a practice match with Ryoma. "At this rate, we'll be too injured to take on our actual competition."

"The problem isn't that Ryoma is skilled," Inui commented, eyes focused on his notebook in concentration, "The problem is that he has no where to direct his focus besides on us."

Momo blinked as he digested his words then nodded enthusiastically in agreement. "Exactly, the damn brat trains from sunup to sundown except when he's in school."

"But what can we do about that?" Takeshi asked.

"Well, hypothetically speaking," Inui said before clearing his throat, "if Ryoma-san had an opportunity to direct his extra attention elsewhere, it would mean he would have less time to improve upon his tennis skills."

"So what do we do?" Eiji prompted eagerly.

Inui closed his notebook with a snap of finality. "We need to provide him with a distraction."


	2. Plan E

**Author's Note**: For some reason while I was writing this, I kept thinking of Sakuno as a sacrificial virgin sent to appease the gods… Enjoy!

**Summary**: In desperate times, one must resort to desperate measures… And hopefully manage to avoid criminal charges in the process. That's where Plan E comes in.

**Warning**: Largely unedited and very mild swearing (one word)

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Prince of Tennis. If I did, Ryoma would never know what hit him.

**Prompt**: #16 Think

* * *

Four Plans that Didn't Work  
and One that Might

* * *

After two more agonizing weeks of relentless trashing during Tennis practice, courtesy of one Echizen Ryoma, the team was long past the desperation phase. Echizen had provided the team with four more injuries resulting in a temporary halt to their playing. With wounded pride and bodies, the tennis team gathered once again to figure out how to get Ryoma off their backs. No, they were no longer desperate. Now they were growing murderous. One thing was clear Echizen Ryoma was going down.

But so far, no one had an idea of how to do it. After all, they didn't want to hurt him (much). They just needed him to back off a bit. If only they could figure out what kind of distraction Ryoma would fall for. The few plans they tried had already failed. First, they tried to get Ryoma to consider joining a second sport in the hopes that it would limit his time spent training for tennis. He refused immediately. Not even Inui's claims that people in multiple sports have greater advantages and sharper reflexes over those in a single sport could sway him. Ryoma liked tennis and that was it.

Their second plan required a greater deal of coordination and much more effort. Each member of the team would try to spend time with their youngest member in order get Ryoma to participate in a few hours away from the tennis courts. Unfortunately, it backfired. Nearly every activity Ryoma participated related to tennis in some form. After a week of exhaustation and yet another spike in injuries that resulted from too much one on one time with the young Prince of Tennis, they Seigaku regulars unanimously scrapped the plan.

Unfortunately, that left them with Plan C. A plan that would no doubt fail considering it involved asking Ryoma to lighten up on them. Something that even if their pride didn't prevent them from asking would still fail since it relied on Ryoma's kindness in order to work.

This left them with Plan D which probably would end worse than Plan C since it involved kidnapping Ryoma and locking him in a tool shed in the downtime between tournaments and games. They were desperate, slightly murderous, but not stupid. The last thing they needed was to face kidnapping charges. That and Ryoma would put up one hell of a fight.

"So what's Plan E?" Eiji asked peering over Oishi's shoulder at the list. The four listed items on the sheet had been crossed out by a heavy line of permanent marker.

"We have none," Momo grumbled, resting his head wearily in his right hand.

"What?" Eiji asked, panic filling his voice. "What are we going to do?"

"Maybe we should just give up," Takeshi suggested to the group gently.

Eiji looked at him in horror, "But-- but that means Ochibi wins!"

The group remained silent, not looking at one another.

Kaidoh rose suddenly and began packing his back. Momo sighed and slowly began to follow his example. Eiji watched in disbelief as the other players began to do the same. "We can't give up!" he shouted, "we have to do something."

"Like what? You got a plan?" Kaidoh asked, golden eyes piercing him with a glare.

"Well no, but Inui," he said turning towards the man who had started the plan from the very beginning.

Inui sighed, one hand pushing up his broken glasses. The spectacles were just one of the latest causalities in the battle against Ryoma. When Inui didn't respond further, Eiji grew frantic.

"Fuji," he said turning to the only other player who had yet to start packing his things, "there must be a way!"

Fuji shrugged noncommittally. "Perhaps," he said slowly. The team's packing session slowed fractionally.

"Perhaps?" Eiji prompted.

"Perhaps," Fuji continued, "we've been doing this all wrong."

"What do you mean?" Momo asked his hands coming to a halt as he turned to look at the Tennis Genius.

"Perhaps, we were looking at this from the wrong angle," he said his trademark smile becoming more pronounced with every word. "Perhaps we need to think more simply about the situation."

"Stop talking in circles and just say what you mean."

"Tell me," he said smiling, his normally blank eyes wide open and glinting devilishly in the dim light of the locker room, "is anyone still in contact with Ryuzaki-san's granddaughter?"


	3. Stalker

**Author's Note**: Last chapter, Sakuno was the sacrificial virgin and this time Tomo is the damsel in distress. Some days I really wonder why my brain works the way it does. Enjoy!

**Summary**: In desperate times, one must resort to desperate measures… It was time to bring in the cavalry. Featuring the recruitment process: Seigaku Style.

**Warning**: Largely unedited and slightly creepy beginning

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Prince of Tennis. If I did, all members of the tennis team would exist in a pairing.

**Prompt**: #25 Raindrops

* * *

Stalking Lets Them Know You Care

* * *

It was like something out of an old detective film from the 1950s, a regular _film_ _noire_. The sky above was painted black, a smog tinted rainy haze slowly soaked the streets below and a woman stood alone on the empty pavement, protected solely by a flimsy rain jacket.

Tomo sighed, pulling the jacket tighter in attempt to fight off the ever present chill. She hated running errands at night. Everything looked so dark and creepy. She kept one hand on the cell phone in her pocket and the other tightly gripped the bag from the supermarket. Without an umbrella, her too-long bangs were plastered to her face and her socks were sofaked from stepping in unforeseen puddles. She only had another five minute walk before she made it home. But that wasn't the problem.

The problem was that she was being followed.

She couldn't confirm it for sure. Not without tipping off the stalker that she was unto him.

But although she couldn't prove someone was there, she could still feel it. She felt it in the way the shadows seemed to grow larger in the corner of her eye only to shrink when she turned to look. She felt it the way her clacking of her shoes on the pavement seemed to have a larger, deeper echo a few paces behind her. But mostly she felt it deep within her heart in the way it would seemed to pause in anticipation before each beat.

Someone or something was following her. And Tomo was sick of it.

When an alley appeared on her left she made her move. She turned sharply and began sprinting down the alley. Though her legs were already pumping furiously as she ran, she picked up the pace another notch when she heard heavy footsteps begin to pound on the pavement behind her. She took a sharp right around the corner of a building and threw herself tightly against the wall.

It shouldn't be long now.

When a tall body emerged from the path behind her, she was ready. With a feral-sounding war cry she normally reserved for terrifying her younger brothers, she pivoted on her left foot and sent her pitiful bag of food careening hard into the stranger's gut causing him to bend over in pain. When his air came out in one heavy whoosh, she really let him have it.

She raised her bag in one hand and cell phone in another and began to pound the man on the head to punctuate each word and syllable.

"Stay. A-way. From me. You per-vert. You hear me!"

But just as the adrenalin began to fade, the man let out a low hiss and suddenly he lunged. Soon she found herself trapped. Her back pressed flush against course brick. Each wrist captured by a larger hand and slanted gray eyes staring down at her smaller form. She couldn't move, couldn't think. Her entire body felt numb. Never before had she felt so overwhelmed. The bag from her hand fell to the ground forgotten.

"What," Kaidoh hissed, leaning in so close their breath mixed, "do you think you are doing?"

Her lips parted but no sound came out. It was a strange sensation, to have her body frozen in place while her heart beat a furious rhythm. It was both wonderful and terrifying at the same and she didn't know how to respond to it. She didn't even know what that feeling deep in her chest was. Then he had to go and ruin it.

"Idiot," he muttered, "what the hell were you thinking?"

The arrogance in his tone snapped her back to her senses. Her struggle began anew. "Me? I should be asking you that question, Kaidoh-sempai. Why the hell were you chasing me?"

"I needed to talk to you."

She debated kicking him in the shin. "And you could just pick up the phone like a normal human being?"

He struggled to keep her pinned. Anytime she got a hand free she whacked him on his arm. Hard. For such small hands, she certainly had a powerful fist. "I don't have your phone number."

She stopped struggling and glared. The foot and a half difference in height meant that she had to crane her neck back far enough to get a crick in it but some things were worth the pain. Yelling at bird-brained idiots was more than worth a bit of minor discomfort in her mind. "So what?" she exclaimed, voice dripping in sarcasm, "that meant you had to chase me into the night like some bad guy from a horror film."

"We tried your locker first..."

If there was an award for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, Kaidoh just took first, second, and third place.

"You," she said with a particularly violent hiss, "were the one who _broke_ into my locker?"

Kaidoh tightened his grip on her hands. He didn't trust her not to play dirty. "We left a note," he said, voice tight with frustration.

She snorted in disbelief. "Yeah some creepy obsessive stalker-type note. It told me to come alone!" she said managing to get a hand free to slap him again, "at midnight! And break into the school!"

While he struggled for what to say she kept going. "Honestly," she said taking advantage of his distraction to shake off his grip and give him one final punch to his left arm, "what the hell is going on here?"

He hissed and wanted to fire back a retort but just when he took a step forward he landed on something squishy. He looked at her bag of bread under his foot. Then he looked back at her. She began to smile like a fierce lioness that just spotted some fresh prey. He would never admit it, even under the penalty of drinking Inui's juice, but her grin was sort of terrifying.

"So snake boy, talk," she said crossing her arms, feral grin firmly in place, "what did you want with me? And you better make it good."


End file.
